Dars Uji Matcha ダース宇治抹茶

Morinaga make a lot of yummy snacks and one product they do especially well is Dars. I'm a big fan of their white chocolate, it is so creamy.

Matcha is also another flavour I love in everything, I love it as a tea or added to savory and desserts. So I was excited to try it.

This Dars uses Uji Matcha from Kyoto that is ground up into a fine powder and mixed into the chocolate. The Matcha flavour is strong and blends well with the outer layer of smooth dark chocolate.

I definitely recommend this as within seconds of pulling out the tray half of the Dars were gone. My 5 year old son started gobbling them and wouldn't stop, he loved it so much. I think I got 3 pieces total, but would have loved more. 

Tirol Sesame Mochi チロルごま団子

I am a big fan of traditional Asian sweets and also a big fan of Tirol as you might guess from the amount of Tirol products I review.

So when I saw this Goma Dango release I knew I had to try it. Besides, the packet is so cute, and there are two flavours inside, not just one! Good value right there :)

This pack contains 7 individually wrapped pieces. 4 of the "金" (white sesame) and 3 of the "黒" (black sesame).

Each chocolate piece contains either black or white sesame seeds, azuki (red bean paste) and mochi gummy.

White sesame is a creamy white chocolate on the outside and it has a sweet smell. The middle is soft and then chewy as my teeth hit the mochi. There are lots of white sesame seeds inside so the sesame taste is quite bold, but it's not overpowering. However, I'm not sure why the azuki paste (which is more like a sauce) is there because it's not very apparent.

The black sesame is a grey and black mottled white chocolate on the outside. Biting in, there is an ample amount of black sesame seeds but I couldn't locate the azuki paste. The black sesame seeds are not very strong in flavour so the white chocolate is centre stage followed by the texture of the sesame seeds. A major let down as I expected the black sesame to be the best but it's actually too sweet and not interesting enough.

That's a shame, and possibly the reason why there were only 3 in the pack. Did Tirol know they bombed out?

Either way, this was a fun pack to try out, even though it wasn't as reminiscent of traditional Asian sweets as I would like.

Have you tried these and if so what did you think!? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Royce x Tirol チロル x ロイス

A while back Tirol teamed up with the famous Hokkaido chocolate manufacturer Royce to make a premium Tirol (which is a little larger than the regular size).

It sold out very quickly but I managed to buy some pieces online. Unfortunately because it contained Nama cream, most online stores would not send it overseas. Mine was sent during summer and leaked inside my parcel, and the Tirol ended up mutilated, but still edible - however I didn't take photos of the disaster so the above image is the result of a Google image search.

The chocolate itself was quite dark so it seems it had a rather high cocoa content. Inside it was soft and kind of chewy. Because of the Nama cream the chocolate was creamy and had a very milky taste. Even when melted, this Tirol was everything I expected it to be and was a really good representation of Royce. It's just a shame I only had 9 pieces because I could have easily eaten double that! 

I hope that like some of the other Tirol releases this will make a comeback in the future! :)

Calbee French Salad Potato Chips カルビー ポテトチップス フレンチサラダ

Sorry for the lack of posts! I have a backlog of Japanese snacks to get through so expect to hear from me more in future. 

Amongst my backlog are packs of Japanese potato chips. Starting with the first pack - French Salad by Calbee. 

Opening the packet there was quite a strong tang that wafted out, similar to that of a French salad dressing which is described by Google as 
"a term originally used for an oil-and-vinegar-based salad dressing. In the United States during the 1950s, manufactured "French dressing" was developed. The term has come to mean the manufactured version, which is sweet in taste and colored red from the use of paprika and tomatoes."

The chips themselves had specks of green and red on them and were a light yellow colour.

They were very crunchy and salty with a mild tang of vinegar, so if you like salt and vinegar chips then you would like these. Japanese husband did NOT like these, his complaint was that they were too tangy (but again he doesn't like salt and vinegar, so there you go)

Overall, not a bad flavour. I'm not sure I would buy it again, but it was good to try once.